


Before School Activities

by wisdomeagle



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Community: buffyverse1000, F/F, F/M, Multi, Season 1, UST
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-12-17
Updated: 2004-12-17
Packaged: 2017-10-10 02:59:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/94728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wisdomeagle/pseuds/wisdomeagle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Willow's sophomore year is not what she expected. This turns out to be a good thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Before School Activities

If Willow had had to predict what her before-school activities were going to be in eleventh grade, she definitely wouldn't have included this. Making tea for the librarian, studying ancient mystical texts, watching a cheerleader type practice kick-boxing. She'd probably have guessed mostly studying, actually, with a side of homework and writing papers for dessert. But this was good -- better than good, even, since it involved actual contact with actual people who actually liked her.

She'd shown up for school early during the second week of classes, hoping that Giles would let her help with the research thing. She'd asked Xander to help, hoping that the prospect of getting to stalk Buffy in a pseduo-legit capacity would tempt him, but very little could tempt Xander out of bed on a school morning. So she walked to school by herself, since it was after sunrise, and leaned her elbows on Giles's desk and said, "Can I help?"

"Er, well, yes, I think you can," he'd said. "There's always filing to be done, and updating my catalogues. And would you mind popping 'round to the cafeteria and seeing if you can fetch some hot water for my tea?"

She'd been a bit weirded at first, by how readily he let her in, but besides a little awkwardness at first, things went just fine. She'd sit at the round table, books spread in front of her, and about a half hour after her arrival, Buffy would come charging through the door with details of her patrol and occasionally something interesting to say about Angel.

Like Giles, Buffy took Willow's presence in stride. It was as if she were so insignificant that she hardly registered on their radar, just part of their surroundings, the part that did cataloguing and made tea. Still, better to be a fly on the wall in the library than be out in the courtyard, getting mocked by Cordelia and her minions.

There were lots of things to like about the library in the morning. Giles sipping the tea she brought him, looking over the rims of his glasses, blinking rapidly to stay awake. Sometimes when he was deeply absorbed in his reading, she just looked, enjoying the privacy of being alone with him. He sometimes tapped his teeth with a fountain pen, and once, he looked up at her, smiled, and said, "Thank you for helping out, Willow. You've proved invaluable around here."

Buffy's arrival meant new sensations. She smelled freshly scrubbed, and Willow knew she took two showers: one right after she got back from patrol, and another in the morning, so her mother wouldn't think anything was weird. She smelled extra fresh and tangy from citrus-scented shampoo. Buffy didn't bounce quite as much as she had the previous year, but she still had a spring in her step when Giles handed her a weapon. Most mornings, they did a few rounds first, and Willow spared a moment from the endless research to watch them go hand-to-hand. Buffy had to be careful not to hurt Giles too much, but he was always good natured about the pratfalls he took, and Willow wondered how long it took to get that good at taking abuse.

Later in the morning, they had to put all the weapons out of sight -- not very well hidden, since people in Sunnydale were good at not seeing what they didn't want to see -- and Buffy would do some cool-down exercises, stretching and bending and touching her toes.

Willow's favorite thing about that part of the morning was watching Buffy bend so her feet touched her head, a perfect "O" of slayer flexibility.

In the last five minutes before homeroom started, Buffy would duck into Giles's office to change into school clothes, and Willow would stand outside the door, calling things like, "Did you study for history?" and "Was Xander around when you got here?" and "Did Angel show up at the graveyard?"

Giles, standing next to her, would ask loudly, "Are you certain you're being careful about keeping a low profile?" and "You mustn't let your guard down, not even for a moment," and "Will you be here this afternoon?"

And Buffy said things like "Guys, it's cool. Under control. I'm Bufforific," and "God, can't we save the third degree for after I've had some diet Coke?" and, once, "Thanks for being here, Will. It makes the morning sunshinier."

Willow's favorite part of the morning, though, was when they stood in a triangle, waiting for the warning bell, and didn't say anything, when Giles was wiser and Buffy stronger and she a little bit sweeter than usual. It was home.


End file.
